NICO chief mourns Vanguard Arts editor

The Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, has described the death of the Arts Editor of Vanguard , Mr. Mcphilips Nwachukwu as devastating.

He said Nwachukwu was a young man, who was passionate about his job.

In a condolence message, Ayakoroma said it was very painful because he had known the late Nwachukwu for many years and had also seen him rise to become the Arts Editor of Vanguard .

Praying for his soul to rest in peace, the Executive Secretary said his death brings to the fore an urgent need for an insurance scheme for journalists to be put in place because of the nature of their work.

“I received the shock, the demise of Mcphilips Nwachukwu, the Arts Editor of Vanguard Newspapers. It is quite devastating, considering the fact that I had known him for many years, and seen him rise to become the Arts Editor of Vanguard. His death further brings to the fore the urgent need for an insurance scheme for journalists in Nigeria. Our hearts go out to the family he has left behind. Since death is a necessary end, we can only pray for his gentle soul to rest in peace in the bosom of the Lord,” he said.

It would be recalled that in 2005, Nwachukwu was diagnosed with a debilitating kidney ailment. He was in South Africa that year to undergo a Laparoscopic Pyeloplasty (surgery) at the Pretoria Urology Hospital by a medical team led by Dr. Francois du P. Boezaart.

The treatment went well and he had recuperated and resumed writing not only in the Vanguard Newspaper but his creative and research writing as doctoral student at the University of Lagos, Akoka. In his poem, Singing my own dirge, Nwachukwu wrote concerning his health challenge.